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We believe strongly in Requests for Proposals (RFPs) as a tool for companies to find the best products and services at competitive prices, but also as an evaluation method for finding that elusive "best fit". However, too often the RFP process is run by people who have never experienced the process before, either from the issuer or vendor side, and essentially don't know what to say or what to ask. MORE

I was somewhat shocked to find out that my 14-year-old daughter had searched YouTube recently for any mention of her dear old dad. She stumbled across a video that included a recent mention of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. Isn’t it just amazing how easy it is in today’s world for our children to get the goods on their parents? But, excuse me, I’m digressing. With it. MORE

There is a lot of talk these days that personalization is back in marketing but what does that really mean and what are some of the tactics you can use? This is important : Besides all of the technology out there that can make this process easier, it’s important to keep in mind that the goal is to create engaging experiences for your customers and potential customers so that they will respond and ultimately purchase your products and services. personalized approach facilitates this process. I've listed the top tactics that I typically discuss in my day to day client meetings. What do you do? MORE

About | Advertise | Submissions | Write for Us CrowdsourcedFRD Home Advertising Branding Design PR SEO-SEM Social Media Strategy More testchannel AdROCK eBooks Educational Facebook Guest Posts Twitter The Top 3 Priorities for 2010 Marketing Budgets November 2nd, 2009 | By guestblogger By Tom Pick | Online Marketing Executive | KC Associates With a lingering recession, the U.S. unemployment rate still near 10%, and uncertain prospects for a quick recovery , marketers need to keep two things in mind. First, that it’s important to continue investing in marketing through the downturn. MORE

I've been using the term "Digital Body Language" on this blog quite a lot for obvious reasons. However, I have not really taken a moment to define the term, as I realized recently after a presentation on the topic. So what is it? What we are referring to when we talk about Digital Body Language is the aggregate of all the digital activity you see from an individual. MORE

Pete Krainik of the CMO Club posted thirteen books that members of the CMO club have recommended. Great list : Breakthrough Marketing Plans: How to Stop Wasting Time and Start Driving Growth. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. Leading Change. Marketing Champions: Practical Strategies for Improving Marketing's Power, Influence, and Business Impact. MORE

Research shows that about 80% of leads marketers generate end up getting lost, ignored or discarded. So, instead of continually struggling to find new leads for Sales, marketers should begin focusing on developing effective lead management processes for converting more leads into sales pipeline. In fact, in a recent lead generation poll I conducted through my LinkedIn group, I found that converting leads to pipeline revenue was the biggest challenge for marketers. The key is to look back at your past marketing activities to find the gold that’s been lost in the Sales and Marketing pipelines. MORE

Tweet. One of the most fun aspects of marketing planning can be brainstorming. Here are ways to make sure your marketing brainstorming is fun and productive. 1. Invite the right people. Don’t brainstorm in a marketing silo. Invite others who deal with your customers, including customer service, product development, sales, distributors and possibly suppliers or strategic alliance partners. Worst? MORE

In fact, visitors searching our site for the phrase “content marketing” increased by 85% in 2009 over 2008. In 2009, most small businesses do have websites and the term, ‘content marketing,’ has gone from obscure to fashionable. Thanks to everyone for their support in 2009! It’s been a very good year for content marketing. Want to Attract and Retain Great Customers? But now. MORE

When I was recently at the Sales 2.0 conference, I had several conversations and debates about the value of Face-to-Face meetings versus Con-calls/Web-meetings. Being that b2b introductory meetings is Green Leads ' business, we have noticed a trend over the past several years. It has become pervasive, and respected, to do business this way. 42% Face-to-Face. 58% Con-call/Web-meeting. 16% Somewhat. MORE

We're frequently asked for any tips we might have for people writing proposal responses to Requests for Proposals (RFP) that they've received. After finding us through the RFP Database , seeing the abundance of RFPs that it contains, and knowing that all of those RFPs are open competitions, the natural question is "if I'm going to spend time writing a proposal it has got to be a winner". Faced with the situation of having to read 300+ pages of different vendors' proposals many people read the first page and then start skimming, and if they're not skimming, their minds are probably going numb. MORE

I had a great time with being a professor at the inbound marketing university. Here's my presentation deck on inbound lead nurturing (CV201) via #IMU for those who missed it. #8 IMU: Inbound Lead Nurturing (CV201) View more OpenOffice presentations from Hubspot Marketing. You can check out all the other classes or register at: [link MORE

Which aspect of the B2B lead generation process frustrates you the most? Getting a volume of names. Figuring out which names are valuable. Passing leads to sales. Converting leads to pipeline revenue. Closing the loop on every lead. Take the poll here MORE

The situation: A potentially juicy RFP falls into your lap. You try not to get too excited because you know that creating a winning proposal can be an expensive and time-consuming affair. Before you get invested in the project proposal you want to determine whether this is, in fact, a worthwhile project for you to chase, or one that you should pass. Companies should always be taking a hard look and evaluating their leads as a way of increasing their win percentage and return on investment (proposal writing), but this is especially important in today's tough economic environment. MORE

Do you hesitate to jump on the social media bandwagon with your company? Concerned about what happens when an employee shares insider information? Social media is inherently dynamic, even chaotic. Provide no guidance and you likely end up damaging your brand. Be too restrictive and your social media initiative will never take off, putting you at a competitive disadvantage. Clear policies help you better navigate this new communication channel and provide guidance to your audience as to what is ok to post and what isn't. MORE

I’m probably biased, but I believe the primary objective of business-to-business marketing is driving sales of the company’s products and services. Of course branding and awareness are also roles that can be played effectively by B2B marketing, but from my point of view these are only supporting roles—secondary to the primary objective of helping drive sales. Yet many of these same companies eventually come to the realization that not every prospective customer is ready to buy now. What’s all this have to do with social media? about a survey they recently conducted. Not bad! MORE

The challenge today is not in generating leads, but truly connecting with them. That's why lead nurturing matters. This is why I found this post by my friend Ardath Albee titled, " Strategy Beyond the Send " helpful. Ardath's post gives some useful ideas on how we can better connect by thinking, "like your prospects do when they set out to solve a problem. One step leads to another.and another." I agree. Define that problem from your customer's perspective. Review your options for content that addresses these concerns. MORE

At a recent ANA conference I was interviewing Brian Wallace VP of Digital Marketing and Media for RIM when I heard him say “2 years from now- if I still have a Director of Social Media – I should be fired! and after thinking about that I can’t help but agree with him. Said differently how do we make social part of the very DNA of the firm? What’s your view? Tweet This! Digg this! MORE

Our original goal for 2009 was $12,000. 2009 was our first year and we have every intention of participating next year. It was another perfect day for an amazing cause. On August 14th, nearly 100 golfers and over 80 sponsors and contributors came together to raise more than $10,000 to help get children with autism get speech therapy services. All proceeds for the event go to Easter Seals Northern Ohio. By late 2008, it was apparent that this year was going to be much more challenging. All told, we feel pretty good about surpassing the $10k level. Thanks Joe! MORE

I seldom write personal posts but I'm making an exception to share my joy. Lydia Faith Carroll was born on 7/8/09. She is 7lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. Mindy and Lydia are doing great! Lydia getting some rest : ). Our first family photo with Lydia. happy family of five! feel very grateful and blessed MORE

Needless to say, Marketing Automation software is very popular today. It can be used for email campaigns, drip marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, landing page management and for brewing coffee. It is often positioned as something that will solve all your marketing problems for a couple of thousand dollars per month. Okay, I made up the part about brewing coffee. Unclear Prospect Profile(s). MORE

Tweet. One of the networks I belong to, ProVisors , advocates the use of one-sheets or one-pagers that describe each member’s differentiators and the benefits of the service(s) they provide. See samples at the end of this post.) These one-sheets are important, because in each ProVisors meeting there are about thirty different service providers giving their elevator pitch to the group. The Grabber. MORE

more » News / Press Releases TriComB2B Named as 2009 Best Places to Work Winner. We get it. From writing technical bulletins for your sales force to composing a speech for your CEO, our technically oriented staff of engineers, account managers and marketers will produce deliverables that make sense for your business with results you can measure. We are distinctive due to our technical aptitude , industry knowledge and business acumen. Contact TriComB2B to learn how our focus on technical products and services can help make your marketing efforts more effective. All Rights Reserved. MORE

Subscribe by RSS InboundMarketing.com Home News Jobs Forums University Search this site: Home Inbound Marketing University Posted May 5th, 2009 by Rick Burnes Register for IMU | Class Schedule | Professors | Student Tools | IMU Badges | Partners | Student Bulletin Board >>Click here to attend this weeks classes! **By clicking the above link, you will have access to the upcoming and recorded webinars. June 15-19, 2009: Inbound Marketing University Classes June 22, 2009: Review Session and Certification Exam New feature! Program Schedule: ( Cant make one of the classes? MORE

A recent lead generation poll showed that converting leads to pipeline revenue (accelerating sales) was the biggest challenge for marketers. What are we doing as sellers that keeps us from closing sales? It’s a tough question, and it’s one that gets a lot of feathers ruffled. However, this is one question that Sharon Drew Morgen isn’t afraid to tackle. spoke with Morgen recently to ask her about her take on the question and her new book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it. Basically: How do we convert leads to sales? MORE

B2B Marketing News SMEs flock to BT Tradespace 10 June 2009, 11:30 GMT BT Tradespace has announced 400 per cent year-on-year growth. Edward Appleton 15 June 2009 Alternative marketing goes mainstream Scot McKee 11 June 2009 Dont hurt me Arch.Im The B2B social networking site – which was launched with the ‘specific mission’ of helping SMEs promote themselves, communicate with other businesses and grow – marked its second anniversary this month by signing up its 350,000th member. But too few marketers understand how to use it as a strategic route-to-market. HOW TO. HOW TO. MORE

B2B marketing efforts heavily rely on content as a lead generation incentive. To be effective in the lead gen cycle, this content has to be something your prospects yearn to read or view. You’ll want to create content that will actually help your sales team have a valid reason to follow-up. Marketers looking for ways to create this relevant content will get practical training during MarketingShepa’s B2B Webinar Training coming up January 29 from 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST). I’ll join a panel of experts including Sherpa’s Research Director, Stefan Tornquist, and Senior Reporter, Sean Donahue. MORE

Even though some vendors have been around for almost 10 years, Marketing Automation is still relatively new. According to Forrester, only 2-5% of B2B firms have invested in full-featured Marketing Automation. But that percentage is rapidly growing. Increasingly, B2B companies realize that Marketing Automation software requires skilled operators. But – if you decide to hire a Marketing Automation manager – what should you look for, and where do you find them? New technology requires people with a new set of skills, nothing new about that. But that’s for web analysts. MORE

I’ve started an eight-part series I’m calling the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ Each post in the series addresses a step that will help to make your lead generation campaigns work like a well-oiled machine. In the first installment , I discussed tackling your organization’s mindset. Your touches should be conversations not just campaigns. Your “marketing” approach should be more consultative. The post received a lot of great comments. Ardath Ablee was fascinated by one and wrote about it in her blog. think you’ll find “How to Use Existing Content in B2B Demand Generation Programs” helpful. MORE

There are many things that work well in the Webinar invitation below from Salesforce.com, but one of my favorite elements is the smallest: the link at the top left corner that reads: “View on a PDA.” Click and you’re linked to a hosted, plain text, narrow-column version of the same message. In a [.]. MORE

With all the micro-blogging, I’ve often wondered whether the number of bloggers who actually create original, substantial content is decreasing. Don’t get me wrong, you can create meaningful thought in 140 characters, but it’s a lot easier to write 140 characters (no matter how well crafted) than it is to consistently create original content for [.]. MORE

The topic of Quality vs. Quantity in demand gen has been a constant debate. Whether it's inbound marketing or outbound marketing there are costs associated with a lead, there are costs associated with the time and effort needed to convert that lead to an opportunity, and there are costs tied to the quality of those leads and how that impacts conversion rates. As David Greenberg, Sr. Quality Vendor. MORE

In writing 30 posts, I more than doubled my previous most productive month, way back in October 2009 , and far exceeded my usual average. Twenty-nine days ago, I set out to write a post a day for this blog. Somehow, despite a couple of late nights, I managed to achieve my goal. My less-than-helpful blogging companion. Can I, or you, for that matter, learn anything from the experience? MORE

A recent MarketingSherpa survey of email recipients found that 58% of those who stop reading, disengage, or unsubscribe after cite "lack of relevance" as a key factor. This is hugely important because most marketers rely on email as their main lead nurturing tactic. As B2B marketers, we should have it drilled into our brains that relevance must be an essential part of our lead nurturing touches. But be honest: How well are you really connecting with your audience? encourage you to look beyond your unsubscribes and find a true measure. It’s a common phenomenon. Tip 2. Tip 3. MORE

Read Forecasting Clouds' Top 20 CRM Blogs of 2009 Forecasting Clouds ranked the top 20 CRM blogs based on their content, readability and frequency of posting. I'm honored to have been included on the list. As I read over the list of blogs, I discovered some new ones worth reading along with a number of bloggers I already follow. Here's a partial list of the CRM blogs on their list: PGreenblog and CRM: The Conversation – Paul Greenberg. Beagle Consulting Blog – Denis Pombriant. Brent’s Social CRM Blog - Brent Leary. Think Customers: the 1 to 1. Jeremy Nedelka. Carfi. Blog - Michael Maoz. MORE

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Communication , Marketing Management , Marketing Strategy. The Effective Marketer Effectiveness is a discipline and it can be learned Home About the Effective Marketer Books Speaking What’s Your Marketing Approach? An interesting post by Steve Johnson talks about marketing not being a list, but rather an approach to solving customers problems and helping buyers to buy. As marketers, we sometimes fall victims of the routine day-to-day tactical activities and forget why we are doing them. MORE

There were days in my lead gen life where I could have easily left for lunch and not come back for four hours. MIT data shows that that might have been a good idea! Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power just highlighted last year's MIT / InsideSales.com study of outbound prospecting lead conversion. It got me thinking. Layer the times together and stagger them for time zone. MORE

2009 was, without doubt, the year of Twitter. Related posts: Top 25 Most Useful LinkedIn Blog Posts of 2009 As the year comes to a close, it is. Whether it was the massive hacker attacks that created a massive Twitter outage and reminded us of how Twitter has now become an important part of our lives, the interest in both Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses to utilize Twitter as part of their [.] Twitter Tip #1 for Beginners: Follow Lists Before You Follow People! This is a continuation of my previous post, where. MORE

Posted by Magdalena Georgieva on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 @ 07:40 AM COMMENTS Been searching for an answer.everyone (nearly) agrees that blogs are a great way to bring eyes to your pages. posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM by Jack Leblond Jack - thanks for the comment. posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 11:25 AM by Rick Short Rick, Great blog topic - enjoyed reading. Wrong. MORE

Today is fathers day, and my kids lived up to the holiday tradition by surprising me with a baked french toast casserole and bacon. The joke was (for the big guy that has one stent in place already) that they were out to kill me. We're heading up to my sister's house today to visit with my dad, Roger Damphousse ("Pepere" as the kids call him), and eat again. Dad, here's to you.(see, MORE

A new B2B marketing community that I am participating in was just launched. The B2B Marketing Zone is a marketing community site that was launched as collaborative effort between Tom Pick and Tony Karrer. The community features content from other B2B marketing bloggers I enjoy such as Ardath Albee ( Marketing Interactions ), Paul Dunay ( Buzz Marketing for Technology ) and Jon Miller ( Modern B2B Marketing ) as well many others. If you’re looking for insights from other experts in B2B marketing I recommend you check it out MORE

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In writing 30 posts, I more than doubled my previous most productive month, way back in October 2009 , and far exceeded my usual average. Twenty-nine days ago, I set out to write a post a day for this blog. Somehow, despite a couple of late nights, I managed to achieve my goal. My less-than-helpful blogging companion. Can I, or you, for that matter, learn anything from the experience?

With all the micro-blogging, I’ve often wondered whether the number of bloggers who actually create original, substantial content is decreasing. Don’t get me wrong, you can create meaningful thought in 140 characters, but it’s a lot easier to write 140 characters (no matter how well crafted) than it is to consistently create original content for [.].

The topic of Quality vs. Quantity in demand gen has been a constant debate. Whether it's inbound marketing or outbound marketing there are costs associated with a lead, there are costs associated with the time and effort needed to convert that lead to an opportunity, and there are costs tied to the quality of those leads and how that impacts conversion rates. As David Greenberg, Sr. Quality Vendor.

Read Forecasting Clouds' Top 20 CRM Blogs of 2009 Forecasting Clouds ranked the top 20 CRM blogs based on their content, readability and frequency of posting. I'm honored to have been included on the list. As I read over the list of blogs, I discovered some new ones worth reading along with a number of bloggers I already follow. Here's a partial list of the CRM blogs on their list: PGreenblog and CRM: The Conversation – Paul Greenberg. Beagle Consulting Blog – Denis Pombriant. Brent’s Social CRM Blog - Brent Leary. Think Customers: the 1 to 1. Jeremy Nedelka. Carfi. Blog - Michael Maoz.

We believe strongly in Requests for Proposals (RFPs) as a tool for companies to find the best products and services at competitive prices, but also as an evaluation method for finding that elusive "best fit". However, too often the RFP process is run by people who have never experienced the process before, either from the issuer or vendor side, and essentially don't know what to say or what to ask.

2009 was, without doubt, the year of Twitter. Related posts: Top 25 Most Useful LinkedIn Blog Posts of 2009 As the year comes to a close, it is. Whether it was the massive hacker attacks that created a massive Twitter outage and reminded us of how Twitter has now become an important part of our lives, the interest in both Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses to utilize Twitter as part of their [.] Twitter Tip #1 for Beginners: Follow Lists Before You Follow People! This is a continuation of my previous post, where.

Our original goal for 2009 was $12,000. 2009 was our first year and we have every intention of participating next year. It was another perfect day for an amazing cause. On August 14th, nearly 100 golfers and over 80 sponsors and contributors came together to raise more than $10,000 to help get children with autism get speech therapy services. All proceeds for the event go to Easter Seals Northern Ohio. By late 2008, it was apparent that this year was going to be much more challenging. All told, we feel pretty good about surpassing the $10k level. Thanks Joe!

Even though some vendors have been around for almost 10 years, Marketing Automation is still relatively new. According to Forrester, only 2-5% of B2B firms have invested in full-featured Marketing Automation. But that percentage is rapidly growing. Increasingly, B2B companies realize that Marketing Automation software requires skilled operators. But – if you decide to hire a Marketing Automation manager – what should you look for, and where do you find them? New technology requires people with a new set of skills, nothing new about that. But that’s for web analysts.

more » News / Press Releases TriComB2B Named as 2009 Best Places to Work Winner. We get it. From writing technical bulletins for your sales force to composing a speech for your CEO, our technically oriented staff of engineers, account managers and marketers will produce deliverables that make sense for your business with results you can measure. We are distinctive due to our technical aptitude , industry knowledge and business acumen. Contact TriComB2B to learn how our focus on technical products and services can help make your marketing efforts more effective. All Rights Reserved.

I was somewhat shocked to find out that my 14-year-old daughter had searched YouTube recently for any mention of her dear old dad. She stumbled across a video that included a recent mention of my book, Lead Generation for the Complex Sale. Isn’t it just amazing how easy it is in today’s world for our children to get the goods on their parents? But, excuse me, I’m digressing. With it.

Pete Krainik of the CMO Club posted thirteen books that members of the CMO club have recommended. Great list : Breakthrough Marketing Plans: How to Stop Wasting Time and Start Driving Growth. Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant. Business Stripped Bare: Adventures of a Global Entrepreneur. Clued In: How to Keep Customers Coming Back Again and Again. Crucial Conversations: Tools for Talking When Stakes are High. Leading Change. Marketing Champions: Practical Strategies for Improving Marketing's Power, Influence, and Business Impact.

I seldom write personal posts but I'm making an exception to share my joy. Lydia Faith Carroll was born on 7/8/09. She is 7lbs 6oz and 19 inches long. Mindy and Lydia are doing great! Lydia getting some rest : ). Our first family photo with Lydia. happy family of five! feel very grateful and blessed

I've been using the term "Digital Body Language" on this blog quite a lot for obvious reasons. However, I have not really taken a moment to define the term, as I realized recently after a presentation on the topic. So what is it? What we are referring to when we talk about Digital Body Language is the aggregate of all the digital activity you see from an individual.

At a recent ANA conference I was interviewing Brian Wallace VP of Digital Marketing and Media for RIM when I heard him say “2 years from now- if I still have a Director of Social Media – I should be fired! and after thinking about that I can’t help but agree with him. Said differently how do we make social part of the very DNA of the firm? What’s your view? Tweet This! Digg this!

2009 was, without doubt, the year of Twitter. Related posts: Top 25 Most Useful LinkedIn Blog Posts of 2009 As the year comes to a close, it is. Whether it was the massive hacker attacks that created a massive Twitter outage and reminded us of how Twitter has now become an important part of our lives, the interest in both Fortune 500 companies as well as small businesses to utilize Twitter as part of their [.] Twitter Tip #1 for Beginners: Follow Lists Before You Follow People! This is a continuation of my previous post, where.

Our original goal for 2009 was $12,000. 2009 was our first year and we have every intention of participating next year. It was another perfect day for an amazing cause. On August 14th, nearly 100 golfers and over 80 sponsors and contributors came together to raise more than $10,000 to help get children with autism get speech therapy services. All proceeds for the event go to Easter Seals Northern Ohio. By late 2008, it was apparent that this year was going to be much more challenging. All told, we feel pretty good about surpassing the $10k level. Thanks Joe!

Even though some vendors have been around for almost 10 years, Marketing Automation is still relatively new. According to Forrester, only 2-5% of B2B firms have invested in full-featured Marketing Automation. But that percentage is rapidly growing. Increasingly, B2B companies realize that Marketing Automation software requires skilled operators. But – if you decide to hire a Marketing Automation manager – what should you look for, and where do you find them? New technology requires people with a new set of skills, nothing new about that. But that’s for web analysts.

We're frequently asked for any tips we might have for people writing proposal responses to Requests for Proposals (RFP) that they've received. After finding us through the RFP Database , seeing the abundance of RFPs that it contains, and knowing that all of those RFPs are open competitions, the natural question is "if I'm going to spend time writing a proposal it has got to be a winner". Faced with the situation of having to read 300+ pages of different vendors' proposals many people read the first page and then start skimming, and if they're not skimming, their minds are probably going numb.

Research shows that about 80% of leads marketers generate end up getting lost, ignored or discarded. So, instead of continually struggling to find new leads for Sales, marketers should begin focusing on developing effective lead management processes for converting more leads into sales pipeline. In fact, in a recent lead generation poll I conducted through my LinkedIn group, I found that converting leads to pipeline revenue was the biggest challenge for marketers. The key is to look back at your past marketing activities to find the gold that’s been lost in the Sales and Marketing pipelines.

Needless to say, Marketing Automation software is very popular today. It can be used for email campaigns, drip marketing, lead nurturing, lead scoring, landing page management and for brewing coffee. It is often positioned as something that will solve all your marketing problems for a couple of thousand dollars per month. Okay, I made up the part about brewing coffee. Unclear Prospect Profile(s).

There were days in my lead gen life where I could have easily left for lunch and not come back for four hours. MIT data shows that that might have been a good idea! Gerhard Gschwandtner of Selling Power just highlighted last year's MIT / InsideSales.com study of outbound prospecting lead conversion. It got me thinking. Layer the times together and stagger them for time zone.

Posted by Magdalena Georgieva on Mon, Jun 29, 2009 @ 07:40 AM COMMENTS Been searching for an answer.everyone (nearly) agrees that blogs are a great way to bring eyes to your pages. posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 10:02 AM by Jack Leblond Jack - thanks for the comment. posted on Monday, June 29, 2009 at 11:25 AM by Rick Short Rick, Great blog topic - enjoyed reading. Wrong.

I’m probably biased, but I believe the primary objective of business-to-business marketing is driving sales of the company’s products and services. Of course branding and awareness are also roles that can be played effectively by B2B marketing, but from my point of view these are only supporting roles—secondary to the primary objective of helping drive sales. Yet many of these same companies eventually come to the realization that not every prospective customer is ready to buy now. What’s all this have to do with social media? about a survey they recently conducted. Not bad!

Today is fathers day, and my kids lived up to the holiday tradition by surprising me with a baked french toast casserole and bacon. The joke was (for the big guy that has one stent in place already) that they were out to kill me. We're heading up to my sister's house today to visit with my dad, Roger Damphousse ("Pepere" as the kids call him), and eat again. Dad, here's to you.(see,

Which aspect of the B2B lead generation process frustrates you the most? Getting a volume of names. Figuring out which names are valuable. Passing leads to sales. Converting leads to pipeline revenue. Closing the loop on every lead. Take the poll here

Tweet. One of the most fun aspects of marketing planning can be brainstorming. Here are ways to make sure your marketing brainstorming is fun and productive. 1. Invite the right people. Don’t brainstorm in a marketing silo. Invite others who deal with your customers, including customer service, product development, sales, distributors and possibly suppliers or strategic alliance partners. Worst?

A new B2B marketing community that I am participating in was just launched. The B2B Marketing Zone is a marketing community site that was launched as collaborative effort between Tom Pick and Tony Karrer. The community features content from other B2B marketing bloggers I enjoy such as Ardath Albee ( Marketing Interactions ), Paul Dunay ( Buzz Marketing for Technology ) and Jon Miller ( Modern B2B Marketing ) as well many others. If you’re looking for insights from other experts in B2B marketing I recommend you check it out

I had a great time with being a professor at the inbound marketing university. Here's my presentation deck on inbound lead nurturing (CV201) via #IMU for those who missed it. #8 IMU: Inbound Lead Nurturing (CV201) View more OpenOffice presentations from Hubspot Marketing. You can check out all the other classes or register at: [link

In fact, visitors searching our site for the phrase “content marketing” increased by 85% in 2009 over 2008. In 2009, most small businesses do have websites and the term, ‘content marketing,’ has gone from obscure to fashionable. Thanks to everyone for their support in 2009! It’s been a very good year for content marketing. Want to Attract and Retain Great Customers? But now.

A recent lead generation poll showed that converting leads to pipeline revenue (accelerating sales) was the biggest challenge for marketers. What are we doing as sellers that keeps us from closing sales? It’s a tough question, and it’s one that gets a lot of feathers ruffled. However, this is one question that Sharon Drew Morgen isn’t afraid to tackle. spoke with Morgen recently to ask her about her take on the question and her new book Dirty Little Secrets: why buyers can’t buy and sellers can’t sell and what you can do about it. Basically: How do we convert leads to sales?

I’ve started an eight-part series I’m calling the ‘Lead Generation Checklist.’ Each post in the series addresses a step that will help to make your lead generation campaigns work like a well-oiled machine. In the first installment , I discussed tackling your organization’s mindset. Your touches should be conversations not just campaigns. Your “marketing” approach should be more consultative. The post received a lot of great comments. Ardath Ablee was fascinated by one and wrote about it in her blog. think you’ll find “How to Use Existing Content in B2B Demand Generation Programs” helpful.

B2B marketing efforts heavily rely on content as a lead generation incentive. To be effective in the lead gen cycle, this content has to be something your prospects yearn to read or view. You’ll want to create content that will actually help your sales team have a valid reason to follow-up. Marketers looking for ways to create this relevant content will get practical training during MarketingShepa’s B2B Webinar Training coming up January 29 from 2 p.m. – 3:30 p.m. EST). I’ll join a panel of experts including Sherpa’s Research Director, Stefan Tornquist, and Senior Reporter, Sean Donahue.

A recent MarketingSherpa survey of email recipients found that 58% of those who stop reading, disengage, or unsubscribe after cite "lack of relevance" as a key factor. This is hugely important because most marketers rely on email as their main lead nurturing tactic. As B2B marketers, we should have it drilled into our brains that relevance must be an essential part of our lead nurturing touches. But be honest: How well are you really connecting with your audience? encourage you to look beyond your unsubscribes and find a true measure. It’s a common phenomenon. Tip 2. Tip 3.

The challenge today is not in generating leads, but truly connecting with them. That's why lead nurturing matters. This is why I found this post by my friend Ardath Albee titled, " Strategy Beyond the Send " helpful. Ardath's post gives some useful ideas on how we can better connect by thinking, "like your prospects do when they set out to solve a problem. One step leads to another.and another." I agree. Define that problem from your customer's perspective. Review your options for content that addresses these concerns.

The situation: A potentially juicy RFP falls into your lap. You try not to get too excited because you know that creating a winning proposal can be an expensive and time-consuming affair. Before you get invested in the project proposal you want to determine whether this is, in fact, a worthwhile project for you to chase, or one that you should pass. Companies should always be taking a hard look and evaluating their leads as a way of increasing their win percentage and return on investment (proposal writing), but this is especially important in today's tough economic environment.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 29th, 2009 at 8:29 pm and is filed under Communication , Marketing Management , Marketing Strategy. The Effective Marketer Effectiveness is a discipline and it can be learned Home About the Effective Marketer Books Speaking What’s Your Marketing Approach? An interesting post by Steve Johnson talks about marketing not being a list, but rather an approach to solving customers problems and helping buyers to buy. As marketers, we sometimes fall victims of the routine day-to-day tactical activities and forget why we are doing them.

B2B Marketing News SMEs flock to BT Tradespace 10 June 2009, 11:30 GMT BT Tradespace has announced 400 per cent year-on-year growth. Edward Appleton 15 June 2009 Alternative marketing goes mainstream Scot McKee 11 June 2009 Dont hurt me Arch.Im The B2B social networking site – which was launched with the ‘specific mission’ of helping SMEs promote themselves, communicate with other businesses and grow – marked its second anniversary this month by signing up its 350,000th member. But too few marketers understand how to use it as a strategic route-to-market. HOW TO. HOW TO.

When I was recently at the Sales 2.0 conference, I had several conversations and debates about the value of Face-to-Face meetings versus Con-calls/Web-meetings. Being that b2b introductory meetings is Green Leads ' business, we have noticed a trend over the past several years. It has become pervasive, and respected, to do business this way. 42% Face-to-Face. 58% Con-call/Web-meeting. 16% Somewhat.

About | Advertise | Submissions | Write for Us CrowdsourcedFRD Home Advertising Branding Design PR SEO-SEM Social Media Strategy More testchannel AdROCK eBooks Educational Facebook Guest Posts Twitter The Top 3 Priorities for 2010 Marketing Budgets November 2nd, 2009 | By guestblogger By Tom Pick | Online Marketing Executive | KC Associates With a lingering recession, the U.S. unemployment rate still near 10%, and uncertain prospects for a quick recovery , marketers need to keep two things in mind. First, that it’s important to continue investing in marketing through the downturn.

There is a lot of talk these days that personalization is back in marketing but what does that really mean and what are some of the tactics you can use? This is important : Besides all of the technology out there that can make this process easier, it’s important to keep in mind that the goal is to create engaging experiences for your customers and potential customers so that they will respond and ultimately purchase your products and services. personalized approach facilitates this process. I've listed the top tactics that I typically discuss in my day to day client meetings. What do you do?

There are many things that work well in the Webinar invitation below from Salesforce.com, but one of my favorite elements is the smallest: the link at the top left corner that reads: “View on a PDA.” Click and you’re linked to a hosted, plain text, narrow-column version of the same message. In a [.].

Tweet. One of the networks I belong to, ProVisors , advocates the use of one-sheets or one-pagers that describe each member’s differentiators and the benefits of the service(s) they provide. See samples at the end of this post.) These one-sheets are important, because in each ProVisors meeting there are about thirty different service providers giving their elevator pitch to the group. The Grabber.

Do you hesitate to jump on the social media bandwagon with your company? Concerned about what happens when an employee shares insider information? Social media is inherently dynamic, even chaotic. Provide no guidance and you likely end up damaging your brand. Be too restrictive and your social media initiative will never take off, putting you at a competitive disadvantage. Clear policies help you better navigate this new communication channel and provide guidance to your audience as to what is ok to post and what isn't.